The Lake County Council will vote on two ordinances Tuesday related to the decommissioning of data centers and battery energy storage systems, as the county begins considering a data center in unincorporated Lake County.
Under the data center ordinance, a data center facility that is inactive for more than 15 consecutive months should be decommissioned and restored to pre-development conditions, unless otherwise approved by the Plan Commission following a public hearing.
The data center owner would notify the Plan Commission of the proposed date of when the center would stop operations and an anticipated timeline for decommissioning.
Under a submitted decommissioning plan, the data center owner would offer a proposal with the physical removal of all structures and equipment; the recycling, reuse, or lawful disposal of solid waste; and site stabilization, according to the ordinance.
The operator will also include a decommissioning cost estimate prepared by an Indiana State Licensed Professional Engineer, and the operator will prove having sufficient funds to cover the costs.
Under the battery energy storage systems ordinance, it has the same 15-month inactive standard for decommissioning, decommissioning plan and cost estimate and coverage. The ordinance includes additional removal language to include removing batteries and testing soils after equipment has been removed to ensure there was no contamination.
The Plan Commission has held two meetings to discuss a proposed data center in Eagle Creek Township about six miles away from Lowell High School.
Sentinel Data Centers, a New York-based company with established data centers on the East Coast, is proposing to build a data center on 160 acres of land outside of Lowell on the south side of Indiana 2 just east of Clay Street, said project attorney David Westland.
The data center would be near other industrial uses, like a nearby battery storage facility, Westland said. Tensaka, a Nebraska-based renewable energy company, received county zoning approval last year to develop a 300 megawatt battery storage facility on 35 acres of land near the same intersection, according to Post-Tribune archives, and NIPSCO would be interconnected to the grid.
The proposed data center follows the county’s comprehensive plan, Westland said. The due diligence period for the project will last through 2026, Westland said.
Lake County Councilman and Plan Commissioner Randy Niemeyer, R-7th, said data center projects have been known to raise questions and concerns from residents. Niemeyer said that the developer of the data center in unincorporated Lake County has agreed “to slow walk” the project, he said, to answer questions and allow the county to approve necessary ordinances.
“It’s important for everybody, the citizens and the elected officials, to be really educated on this stuff. We’re working to make sure that all that information is developed and made available before it comes to a vote,” Niemeyer said.
